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Police Discretion

Police Discretion
David Gonzalez
University of Phoenix
Introduction to Policing
CJA/370
Professor John W. Feltgen
June 23, 2005

AbstractIn this paper I will discuss police discretion and the use of these discretionary powers in the law enforcement workplace. I will explore the mythical aspects of police discretionary powers and the source of this myth. I will further discuss the control of discretionary authority. I will name instances of law enforcement officials using their discretionary powers to enforce laws and why the exercised this privilege.

Police DiscretionThe use of discretion in law enforcement is extremely important to a police officers mission. Unfortunately, special interests, politicians, and corruption have taken its toll on the use of discretion during an officers work day. An example of how an officer use of discretion has been impeded is how we react to and enforce domestic violence situations. When an officer approaches a domestic violence call most states have made the arrest of the aggressor mandatory. Even if the officers have reason to believe that the victim may be deceitful or have alternative motives, he still must arrest and book the accused. Famous cases like the OJ Simpson trial have made the enforcement of domestic violence laws strict with very little room for error. In the State of California politicians have made the enforcement of immigration laws almost impossible. Special interest groups have taken the discretion out of the agent's hands and placed those decisions in the hands of individuals that are influenced by votes. If an agent intends on enforcing the Immigration and Nationality Act, he needs to first clear the arrest with his boss. For example while conducting a routine immigration check, the agent, come across suspected illegal aliens, the agent needs to first verify that the service has detention space then he must clear the arrest with his supervisor. The supervisor then checks to see...

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...﻿ To define discretion is a pretty easy task. Discretion is something you use before you do something. Discretion means to decide to do the right thing before you do the wrong thing for example you would use discretion to decide when you see a person acting strange on the street would you go over to ask that person if they are alright or would you just make the choice to walk away. Discretion is used because it gives us the ways to make a choice if we need to. We use discretion in everyday life we use it because it tells us whether it is the wrong way to do something or the right way to do something. The choice is up to us. The officer used discretion by choosing to apprehend the suspect after she thought the bike was stolen. She used discretion by chasing after him and trying to apprehend him and struggling with him to try to apprehend him. I do feel however that the officer should have let him run after the third attempt to apprehend him. I do feel that pulling the gun for a minor offense and the suspect not having a gun was not a good discretion. The factors for the officer using the discretion she chose to use were that the man continued to walk away and not answer the officer. After that factor the man decided to drop the bike and run making it look like he stole the bike. The officer struggling with him was also a factor she...

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University Of Phoenix
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PoliceDiscretion Case Analysis
Albeiro E. Florez
Law Enforcement Administration
CCJS 340
Due by 13 October 2013
Author Note
Albeiro E. Florez, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Maryland University College.
This report is a response to Professor Jeffrey B. Bumgarner’s project 2 directives.
Correspondence concerning this report should be addressed to Albeiro E. Florez, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Maryland University College, Adelphi eCampus, Adelphi, MD 20783.
Contact: florezalbeiro87@gmail.com
PoliceDiscretion Case Analysis
People make decisions on a daily basis to decide what we should do in any given situation. Having the knowledge to differentiate between what is appropriate or inappropriate is what gives us the freedom to make this decision with the correct judgment. In law enforcement, sworn officers are taught to face any situation by employing good judgment and making the best decisions by themselves or with little to no supervision.
This is what we know as policediscretion (The Rynard Law Firm, 2007). The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes discretion as “the quality of being careful about what you do and say so that people will not be embarrassed or offended” (Merriam-Webster, 2013).
Although systematic routines and protocols need to be followed by officers to ensure they abide by the law as...